A Collection of Words
by rhead-a-holyc
Summary: A one shot collection for the Word of the Day Challenge. Various pairings. Rating just in case.
1. Doggerel

_**Disclaimer:**_** I do not own Harry Potter**

**This one is Tom/Harry**

**Word of the Day Challenge prompt - doggerel**

_**Words**_

As the Heir of Slytherin, Tom Riddle always prided himself on being good with words. He knew exactly what words to use when because each experience required different words spoken differently with a different emphasis and tone.

It was relatively easy to figure out what words were supposed to be used when by reading the person he was speaking to. Each small movement or action said a lot about what that person was expecting to hear and what would help him get what he wanted out of that person because as a Slytherin, Tom usually looked for the upper hand in whichever situation he found himself in.

This time, he doubted that there _was_ actually an upper hand in this situation.

Tom had messed up and Harry was angry with him. It had been one of the moments he had not being paying attention to what he had been saying and he had said something that he had not meant to and had accidentally hurt Harry. His words had been extremely badly phrased.

Now Harry was in a cold war with him. Harry avoided him at all costs and often took his meals in his room, only leaving his room when he was going to leave the manor for some reason or the other. It was disconcerting to find the manor so silent whenever he wandered the corridors. He had even taken off the silencing charms around his office in the hopes of hearing a sound of any kind from Harry.

It had come to the point that he was unable to stand the silence any longer. It was kind of ironic really, he could no longer stand the silence he had asked for so thoughtlessly. Tom had never realized how much he had come to rely on the sounds of activity he had once thought was disruptive and annoying.

Tom had not seen Harry leave so he assumed that Harry was still in his room. Tom wondered what Harry did in his rooms during all that time, he was so silent it was almost like Harry was asleep.

Tom knocked on Harry's door. Harry did not answer but Tom heard shuffling inside the room so he knew Harry was there.

"Harry I know you're there," Tom called, "please open the door."

The shuffling stopped and silence filled the area again.

"Harry, please," Tom said again. He could imagine the stubborn set to Harry's jaw as he sat on his bed staring at the door, hoping that he would go away. Harry's arms would be folded in front of his body and his green eyes would be steely.

Tom sighed when he got no response, he had not expected a response anyway. Tom leaned against the door to Harry's room. He needed to say what he was going to say, he could not stand the cold war any longer. Tom would not allow the silence to go on past today.

"Harry, I really am sorry," Tom started, "I've never realized –"

Tom talked and talked, he knew Harry was listening because there was the odd snort and scoff that came from within his room at something he said. Tom did not hear the click of the door and so when Harry pulled the door open, he fell over as his support was removed from behind him.

"Oh, hello," Tom said, blinking owlishly up at Harry, who looked far too amused at his predicament.

Tom quickly stood and walked into Harry's room, brushing the dirt from his clothing and trying not to look embarrassed for not paying attention. Tom quickly occupied the seat while Harry slipped his feet back under the blankets in his bed in the position Tom realized he had probably been in the entire time.

There was a short silence before Tom decided to speak again.

"So will you go back to your loud full of life-ness?" Tom asked, sounding a bit awkward.

Harry bit his lip to stop him from laughing at Tom's incredibly uncharacteristic butchering of words and was careful to look at anywhere other than where Tom was sitting. Harry failed on that account as his gaze travelled back to Tom not long after and he lost control of his laughter.

"Full of life-ness?" Harry howled, clutching his stomach as he laughed.

"Of course," Tom said as a wicked grin passed over his face, before he joined Harry in his laughter.


	2. Knowledge

_**Disclaimer:**_** I do not own Harry Potter**

**This one is on Luna**

**Word of the Day Challenge prompt - meander**

**_Knowledge_**

She was something akin to a nomad within Hogwarts, wandering around the corridors, passing everybody without so much as a greeting or sign of acknowledgement of her presence. She never really had something that bound her to a certain place, to always return every day or so nor had she any friends she would usually levitate to as most of the other students seemed to have.

It was strange really, to be so alone in a school this big. There was bound to be at least _someone_ here that could possibly be her friend and accept her for who she was instead of trying to change her like the Ravenclaws did. Maybe it was better this way though, she always easily avoided all and any conflict she did not want to partake in as no one really missed her presence. She wandered around the walls of Hogwarts with no real goal in mind. She had been able to watch many people from her position of a wallflower within Ravenclaw. She knew perhaps more about anyone in the castle than even the observant Slytherins. Had she been so much inclined, she could get just about anything she wanted from the information she had. She did not want to though, so she did not because she needed nothing such information could buy.

Her walk was usually slow and careful, not wanting to interrupt or intrude on anything, not willing to disturb anything that went on around her that did not affect her directly. Her walk allowed her to remain unnoticed as she moved through the day, silent even in the many echoing corridors of Hogwarts.

The other girls in Ravenclaw often questioned each other how she had even managed to get into Ravenclaw, she had heard them whispering about her when they had not realized she was there. She had not been hurt at those words though because everyone searched for knowledge. She was just searching for knowledge no one else had thought to look for. If that was insanity, they she would be proud to be called insane – all the greatest minds were called insane anyway. If that was meant to be an insult, it really was not a particularly good one. She could not really blame them though, all their knowledge had to come out of books to be true and not necessarily experience so she could not truly call them _smart_ merely knowledgeable.

She was sure many of them knew of the house elves that worked in the Hogwarts' kitchens despite never seeing a single house elf around Hogwarts. She had gone down to the kitchens and seen them for herself. She had spoken to them and knows of every order and duty they were expected to carry out in the castle. She knew the magic the house elves possessed was unlike that of wizards as they were able to bypass wards that kept wizards out.

The authors of those books consulted by the Ravenclaws had never managed to truly understand the magic of the house elves. Each and every one of them looked down on the magical beings that cleaned their homes happily, seeing them as nothing more than servants. She knew better, any one of the house elves could probably do more damage than the entirety of the Dark Lord's army yet they did not.

That was not her fight though. Her fight was for knowledge that managed to meander and dodge the understanding of other witches and wizards, the knowledge that was truly precious in its rarity.


End file.
